Bébé Maybe

Friday was a big day, and we're very thankful for how it went! First of all, at 19 weeks I am at least halfway to the finish line.  For various medical reasons my doctors don't want me to go past 38 weeks... so the latest this baby will be here is January 5th!!! Of course, with a history of preterm labor there's a chance it could be earlier... which I am fine with as long as it's at a safe time for the baby of course. We had the big anatomy scan last week and David was able to get off work early and come with me. It amazes me how detailed this scan is. Even though the baby is about the size of a banana, they can zoom in and see so much. They went through the whole body and looked at and measured the brain, heart, arms, legs, fingers, toes, stomach, liver, kidneys, and more. I felt more and more relief as they went through each body part and everything looked normal.  At our "for fun" non-medical ultrasound a month ago, we found out she's a girl. And this u...

I'm feeling kind of grumpy and annoyed that this has to be my life.  I know in so many ways I'm lucky, but at the moment certain things are just weighing very heavily. This summer 3 of my cousins had babies within {less than} 2 months of my dead son's due date. Why do they get to be happy? Why not me, when I have gone through so much more? While rationally I know it's not connected to me or my life,  emotionally it feels like I'm getting kicked over and over again while I'm down. Even though I assume I'll have a living baby someday (I am thankfully pregnant again, after all)... why am I the one who has to wait? It's hard to watch other people be happy and to see people who love me celebrate something that brings back my depression. Sitting here in my little black hole all alone, I can't comprehend how other people get to move on with life and have joy while my son is dead. It makes me feel like my baby is forgotten. It should be my parents that get t...

Ahhhh... I'm pretty sure we know the gender!!!! Now that the baby is big enough, I don't get an ultrasound at every appointment. They just do a heartbeat check with the doppler. I realized that would mean a 6 week gap with no ultrasounds, and I didn't like the sound of that. So I found an elective, non-medical ultrasound place. We paid for a package for 2 ultrasounds- 1 after 14 weeks where they try to find out the gender, and 1 after 25 weeks, where they can get cute 3-D pictures. Yesterday I was 15 weeks and 3 days. It looks like the baby is close to being 6 inches long already. At first it looked we wouldn't be able to find out, because I guess our baby is modest and had their legs crossed and the cord inconveniently placed. The ultrasound tech had me drink some cold water, get up and move around, and cough. It took 3 rounds of doing that for the baby to get in the correct position. It looked like she got a clear view and she was pretty confident. I'm 99% sure th...

Two days ago I had my cerclage surgery. I'm so so happy it's over with!!! It wasn't easy to walk through those doors. I had to go to the same hospital where I found out that Christian died and gave birth to him. It's been a little over 5 months since those awful days, but every detail is extremely fresh in my memory. For months I had daily flashbacks and nightmares about every tiny detail of that experience. It got much better since starting the IVF process again, which gave me some hope and something else to focus on.  IVF working, being pregnant again, and getting our puppy have all my mental state as well. But I do still relive those moments. Maybe weekly instead of multiple times a day/ for hours while I'm trying to sleep... but it's still not easy. That said, I was pretty nervous about having to go back. Even worse, my procedure was in the Labor and Delivery area.  I understand that's where these doctors work, but it seems pretty cruel to make anyone ge...

I'm lucky to have had ultrasounds at least every 2 weeks, but those 2 weeks definitely feel forever long! The day of the ultrasound I feel immense relief, and then pretty carefree for a few days. Then the doubt starts to creep in and and I start to feel gradually more and more stressed until my next appointment. I'm guessing that's pretty common for anyone who's had an "I'm sorry, there's no heartbeat" ultrasound. Thankfully, today is a day of immense relief. I had my 12 week ultrasound today and it went really well. It's fun now to actually be able to see things more clearly and to see the baby wiggle around. It was also nice that it was a more detailed ultrasound and not just a heartbeat check. This one was a "first trimester screening" where they can take a preliminary look at the body/organs and measure the nuchal translucency (meaning the amount of fluid in the back of the neck- extra fluid can indicate a genetic disorder). They shou...

 6/21/21 This was the day I looked forward to from September (our egg retrieval) to February (our loss). The official first day of summer and the longest day of the year sounded like the perfect time of year to have a baby. Instead he was born during the coldest week of the year on a subzero, dark, depressing day. I'm kind of glad the due date has passed now, because I was dreading it. I miss him. He should be home with us right now. We should be learning how to be parents instead of sitting here hoping we get to be parents someday.  For years I watched other people get pregnant and have kids seemingly easily while we were trying. I even know a few people who met their spouse, got married, and had multiple kids in the time frame that we've been trying to have one. I was able to mostly come to terms with that, but I'm still struggling with the people who I was finally "in line" to be a mom before... until mine died and theirs didn't. I've heard it all- I kn...

Today was a good day! I had my first ultrasound. Thankfully David was able to take off work and come with me, because I was nervous. I'm 7 weeks today, and I remembered from last time what to expect at this gestation: basically, it's a blob. But, it's a blob with a flicker of a heartbeat inside it, which is so cool to see! The doctor measured the baby and their heart rate and everything looked perfect.  The appointment was short and straightforward and felt almost anticlimactic after weeks of wondering and worrying how it would go.  Since everything was right on track we "graduated" from the fertility clinic, which means I can go to my normal OB in town instead of driving to Illinois every week! Seeing the heartbeat is a huge step- the odds of miscarriage go way down if you reach that point, so I feel very relieved. I feel like I'm over the first few hurdles, which is comforting even though there are many more to go. Hurdle 1: The embryo implanting and HCG con...